The St. Louis Blues came out of the All-Star break armed with a 7-0-1 streak and wishing the mandatory lay-off would have taken place at a different time. But the rest and time to recharge seemed to serve the Blues well. Only sniper Vladimir Tarasenko, defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk and goaltender Brian Elliott made the trip to the All-Star Game and were unable to take advantage of the break.
With ten days between regular season games, St. Louis faced the Predators in Nashville after the All-Star Game and came away with a gritty 5-4 shootout win. Road victories against Carolina (3-2 SO) and Washington (4-3) ran the streak to 10-0-1, a stretch which began January 3rd.
The Blues returned home to face Eastern power Tampa Bay and gutted out a 2-1 overtime with a late goal from Vladimir Tarasenko before Jaden Schwartz netted the game winner seventy-six seconds into the extra frame. From there, the Blues hit the road for Buffalo where they shutout the Sabres 3-0. At 12-0-1, the thirteen-game team point streak broke a franchise record. Then the bubble burst.
St. Louis headed to Columbus where they were thumped by the lowly Blue Jackets 7-1 before returning home to face division rival Chicago. The Blackhawks never trailed in the game, putting it out of reach late in the third period and coming away with two points in regulation with a 4-2 victory. After a nice run lasting more than a month without a regulation loss, the Blues were handed two defeats in a span of 48 hours.
Maybe it was time to come back down to earth. After all, the surge vaulted St. Louis from 7th overall to 2nd in the league standings. The Blues showed they belong among the elite teams, this despite suffering a few key injuries, which would usually spell trouble for most teams.
During the 4-3 in against the Capitals, All-Star Kevin Shattenkirk was lost to an upper-body injury again early in the win at Washington. He is week-to-week and is scheduled to undergo abdominal surgery. Increased minutes from defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, Jay Bouwmeester, Barret Jackman and Carl Gunnarson were expected, but the third defensive grouping of Chris Butler and Ian Cole have chipped in nicely the last six games.
Kevin Shattenkirk
Just prior to this, Jori Lehtera, perhaps one of the most pleasant surprises of the season for St. Louis, was out with a concussion for six games. His linemate, Tarasenko, still netted four goals during Lehtera’s absence, but likely could have done more during the two recent losses.
Chris Porter, a key cog on the checking line, remains out and will probably be at least three weeks before returning. But recently acquired Marcel Goc has contributed on the checking line of Steve Ott and Ryan Reaves well. Reaves even had back-to-back goals in the two games after the All-Star Break while logging an average of ten minutes a game.
While the last five weeks have vaulted St. Louis to a level among the top teams, there are some season-long statistics to look at which will prove their mettle.
One of the most telling statistics comes in the ratio of goals for and goals against when a team is playing 5-on-5. St. Louis ranks second (1.28), just a smidge behind league-leading Tampa Bay (1.29). Other top teams in this category include Chicago (3rd with 1.24), New York Rangers (4th with (1.23) and Montreal (5th with 1.22)
Other keys metrics demonstrating St. Louis strength include a power play which, despite being tops in the league, ranks 2nd at a 23.7%, just behind Detroit’s 25.5% conversion rate. The Blues ranks second in goals scored with 3.04, just behind Tampa Bay (3.20) and Dallas (3.15)
Of the team indicators needing improvement, an 18th-ranked penalty kill at 80.6% needs fixing. Allowing a goal in 1 out of every 5 short-handed situations is not becoming of an elite team. Goals against is 8th at 2.43 and team save percentage is 13th at 0.912, respectable, but not among the elite.
Jaden Schwartz, regarded league-wide as being among players possessing the highest hockey I.Q. continues to dazzle. Consider the Blues were 34-11-3 this season with Schwartz in the lineup. St. Louis has gone 1-5-1 when he has missed time due to injury. He has become a top-six forward who is magnificent at even strength while taking a key place on the power play and the penalty-killing units.
(L-R) Jaden Schwartz – Brent Burns and Barret Jackman fight for position in front of the net
Several key players have made an unexpected difference recently, indicating depth on the team is solid and reliable. Dmitrij jaskin has netted 3 goals in his last six games. Free agent-acquisition Paul Stastny has points in 12 of his last 17 games, including 5 in his last 6 games. His recent surge has turned around what was starting to look like a somewhat disappointing off-season move.
Currently, St. Louis is 7-6-2 against Chicago, Nashville, Anaheim, Los Angeles and San Jose, but against the rest of the League, they are 28-9-2. Their overall 35-15-4 record puts them in 3rd overall, four behind division-leading Nashville and one behind Anaheim.
After a quick two-game road trip to Florida to face Tampa Bay on Thursday night and the Panthers on Sunday afternoon, St. Louis returns home for a four-game home stand to battle Dallas (Tuesday), Boston (Friday the 20th), Pittsburgh (Saturday the 21st) and Montreal (Tuesday the 24th).
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